China's population is declining for the second year in a row as the economy falters

Aly Song/Reuters

Last year, families strolled through a park in Shanghai.

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China's population shrank for a second straight day in 2023, marking a worsening of a demographic challenge that will have a significant impact on the world's second-largest economy.

The population fell to 1.409 billion in 2023, about 2.08 million fewer people than last year, China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Wednesday.

The NBS confirmed that China's economy grew 5.2% last year, compared with a government target of about 5%. Although this expansion represents a significant acceleration from 2022, when China's economy grew by just 3%, it is still one of the country's worst economic performances in over three decades.

China's birth rate also fell to a new record low of 6.39 births per 1,000 people, down from 6.77 last year and the lowest level since communist China was founded in 1949. About 9.02 million babies were born, down from 9 .56 million babies in 2022.

The country's labor force, consisting of people aged 16 to 59, has decreased by 10.75 million since 2022, while the number of older people over 60 has increased by 16.93 million since 2022.

The latest figures come after China's population fell in 2022 for the first time in decades. Analysts said it was the country's first decline since the 1961 famine, which was triggered by former leader Mao Zedong's “Great Leap Forward.” Last year, China was overtaken by India as the world's most populous country.

The falling birth rate comes despite government efforts to encourage more married couples to have children after decades of restrictive birth policies.

Beijing scrapped its decades-long and highly controversial “one-child” policy in 2015 after realizing the restrictions had contributed to a rapidly aging population and a shrinking workforce that could seriously threaten the country's economic and social stability .

This is a developing story and will be updated.